Printing-press



C. W. SMITH.

PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1. m9.

' Patented Dec. 30,1919.

H SHEETSSHEET I.

Charles Warn/riff.

c. w. SMITH. PRINTING PRESS.

I APPLICATION HLED JUNE 1. 1919 '1,326,798. Patented Dec. 30,1919.

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,m Charles WJm/I Z'h. v r r C. W. SMITH.

PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7. I919.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

ll SHEETS-SHEET 3.

- I/IMWI/W C. W. SMITH.

PRINTING PRESS.

7 APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7. 1919. 7 1,326,798. Patented Dec. 30,1919.

H SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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M E W c. w. SMITH.-

PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7. I919. 1,326,798. Patented Dec.30,1919.-

H SHEETS-SHEET 5.

C. W. SMITH.

PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1. 1919.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

H SHEETS-SHEET 6.

(I'M/ ied W G m/1 th.

c. w. SMITH. PRINTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1. I9I9.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

II SHEETSSHEEI 7- Patented Dec. 30,1919.

ll SHEET$-SHEET 9.

C. W. SMITH. Pmmms PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, I919.

Patented Dec. 30,1919.

H SHEETSSHEET II- ull UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. SMITH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO KEYSTONE TYPE FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PRINTING-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t 30, 1 9

Application filed .Tune 7, 1919. Serial No. 302,433.

To all whom it may concern .-v

Be it known that I, CI-IARLEs TV. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

In printing presses made prior to my present invention and which were of the type including an oscillatory cylinder for the purpose of conveying separate sheets of paper to the printing form and afterward delivering the printed paper to conveying rollers, it was found that the sheets of paper were very often pushed or otherwise moved out of the desired straight alinement; thereby causing inferior work.

One object of my invention is to so make a printing press of the above mentioned type that the successive sheets will be accurately gripped and clamped to the oscillatory cylinder without pushing or otherwise causing said sheets to get out of proper straight alinement.

Another object is to so construct my improved machine that it can be operated at eX- tremely high speed, and at the same time turn out practically perfect work.

A still further object is to make the parts of my invention of 'a strong and durable construction and so that they can be easily put together. I

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be described hereinafter, I attain in the following manner, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machine,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary plan showing certain of the elements illustrated in Fig. 2,

Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line 88 of Fig. 7,

Fig. 9 is a detailed face view of another cam which forms a part of my invention and which operates in conjunction with the cam shown in Figs. 7 and 8,

Fig. 10 is a section taken on the line l0-10 of Fig. 9,

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary end elevation ihowing certain of the parts of my inven- Fig. 12 is a section taken on the line 12- 12 of Fig. 11,

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary sectional elevation showing in outside view a paper SI1100tl1- ing shoe,

Fig. 14 is a side view of Fig. 13,

.Figs. 15 to 24 inclusive are diagrammatic views showing various positions of certain of the elements of my invention which they occupy during the operation of my improved machine, t

Fig. 25 is a fragmentary elevation, partly in section, taken on the line 2525 of Fig. 26, showing alining means and illustrating in full lines the position of said alining means when in the act of forming a stop for the edge of a sheet of paper to be printed and showing in dot-and-dash lines the po sition of said means when the paper is freed thereof,

Fig. 26 is a side view of Fig. 25, looking in the direction of the arrow on,

Fig. 27 is a side view of Fig. 25, looking in the direction of the arrow y.

Referring to the drawings, 85 is a hollow base frame which forms a bearing for a main power shaft 36; said shaft being driven by a pulley 37 on one end and having a fiyor balance wheel 38 on its opposite end. A large gear wheel 39 is secured to the shaft 36 within the frame 35 and this wheel 39 has a crank pin 40 secured thereto, said crank pin having an eccentric sleeve 41 thereon which forms a bearing for a connecting rod 42. The upper end of the sweep lever 50 is pivotally connected at 52 to a link 53; said link being pivoted at 54 to a formcarriage 55, said form-carriage having a form 56 positioned on its upper surface and being mounted on rollers 57 designed to travel on flanged rails 58 formed integral on the top of the base frame 35. The rollers 57 are journaled in a frame 59 so as to keep them spaced during the reciprocating movement of the form-carriage 55 which is caused by the rotation of the main power shaft 36 during the operation of the press.

The form-carriage 55 has a rear extension 60 which provides an inking plate or table which is adapted to roll under a number of inlcclistributing rolls '61. The detail construction of the ink applying and distributing rollers forms the subject-matter of my co-pending application for United States patent, Serial Number 304,379, filed June 16, 1919, and the description of the operation of these rollers is therefore omitted in the present application; it being sufficient to state that they serve to distribute ink upon the top surface of the ink table 60 for the purpose of applying this distributed ink to the form-rolls 62 which are shown supported on an upper frame structure 68 (see Figs. 1, 3 and 6).

An oscillatory platen cylinder 64 is rotatably supported on the upper frame 63, said platen cylinder receiving its oscillatory movement by means of a gear wheel 65 which is secured to said cylinder and which meshes with a toothed rack 66, said toothed rack being connected to the form-carriage 55 so as to receive areciprocating movement in conjunction with the movement of the form-carriage. This reciprocating movement imparts an oscillating movement to the platen cylinder 64.

A feeding-table 67 is pivotally supported at 68 to a standard 69 and has its free end portion 70 positioned directly over the cylinder 64. Thin strips 71 which are made of resilient spring steel project beyond the edge of the portion 7 0 and'are spaced apart, as shown in Fig. 2.

Brackets 72 are adjustably secured by thumb screws 73 to arock-shaft 74. This rock-shaft is journaled in the frame 63 and has an arm 75 secured thereto, said arm having a pin 7 6 which projects between two forks 77 and 78 on a rocking cam 79; said cam being rocked by an upward and downward movement of a link 80 by means not illustrated. A coiled spring 81 serves to move the arm 7 5 in a direction opposite to the direction in which said arm is moved by the fork 77 of the cam 79. The bracket 72 has a paper alining plate 82 adjustably mounted thereon by screws 83 and 84, said adjustment being upward and downward. This adjustment is secured by the fact that the screw 83 passes through a slot 85 in the plate 82; said screw 84 having a stud end 86 which extends through another slot 87 in said plate. The lower portion of the plate 82 serves as a stop or alining means for the edge of the pape'r'88 as it is fed to the cylinder 64. The lower edges of the alining edges 82 are notchedso as to span the side edges of the resilient strips 71;

thereby causing proper registration between the alining plates 82 and the strips 71 each time the shaft 74 is rocked aslwill be described more fully hereinafter. Each of the alining plates 82 has a curved guide 89 secured thereto, said guide extending over the feeding-table 67 so as to permit the sheets of paper to bequickly fed and at the same time insure that the edge of the paper is directed against the plate 82 at its bottom.

The rock-shaft 74 also has secured thereon, by set screws 90, a number of paper smoothing shoes 91; said shoes being adapted to oscillate over the paper as it is fed to the alining plates 82 and thereby smooth out any wrinkles, waves or other surface irregularities in the paper. The lower edge surface 92 of each of the shoes 91 is in the form of a curve; said curve having portions at various distances from the axis of the shaft 74 so that during the smoothing action, the surfaces 92 will gradually engage the paper, flatten it and then move into an elevated position entirely free of the paper, as clearly indicated in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 13.

The cylinder 64 has a recess or cavity 93 extending therein and through this cavity extends a rock shaft 94, said rock shaft having its ends journaled in the ends of the cylinder 64. The shaft 94 has an arm 95 secured thereon, said arm being pivotally connected with a rod 96, said rod being freely slidable through a hole 97 formed in said cylinder (see Fig. 6). A coiled spring 98 surrounds the rod 96 and bears upon the cylinder 64 and a shoulder 99 formed on said rod 96. The rock shaft 94 has a plurality of gripping fingers 100 secured thereon; said gripping fingers being curved upwardly so as to project out of the cavity 93 and over the sheets of paper 88 while said sheets are being supported on said strips 71 and table 67 The gripping fingers 100 are so arranged as to engage the paper between the strips 71 and clamp it to the cylinder 64 immediately after the cylinder 64 has started to rotate' The clamping action of the gripping fingers 100 is efiected by the spring 98 and the releasing action of the gripping fingers 100 and the control of said gripping fingers during their clamping action is effected by the following mechanism:

Two cams 101 and 102 are freely rotatable on a shaft 103 which passes through the cylinder 64. The cam 102 has a stud 104, said stud having a portion 105 projecting beyond one face thereof, and a portion 106 projecting beyond the opposite face thereof. The portion 105, under rertain conditions hereinafter described, is adapted to abut opposite faces of a stationary lug 107 which forms a part of the top frame The portion 106 of the stud 104 is adapted to enter the space between two projections 108 and 109 on the cam 101. An arm 110 18 secured to the shaft 94 and has a roller 111 journaled thereon, said roller, under certain conditions in the operation of the press, being adapted to engage the cams 101 and 102.

The control and operation of the gripping fingers 100 for clamping the paper to the cylinder 64:, so that it will be delivered to the form to be printed and afterward released and delivered to conveying means, can be. thoroughly comprehended by reference to the diagrammatic views shown in Figs. 15 to 24: inclusive. Fig. 15 shows the position of the various elements when the paper has been initially fed, for example into the position shown in Fig. 25 so as to rest upon the strips 71 and have its edge abutting the alining plates 82, said strips and alining plate being omitted, for clean ness, in the diagrammatic views. In Fig. 15,

' the roller 111 is shown on the high part of the cam102; the portion 105 of the stud 10 1 being held in engagement with the lug 107 on the top frame, due to the action of the spring 98. In this position, the gripping fingers 101 are raised and the cylinder 64: is ready to start in the direction of movement indicated by the arrow. During the initial movement of the cylinder in said direction, the roller 111 will roll down upon the surface 112 of the cam 102 into the position shown in Fig. 16. During this action, the spring 98 operates to rock the shaft 9 1 and thereby move the gripping fingers to clamp the paper 88 against the outer surface of the cylinder. The cylinder continues in the direction of movement of the arrow, and the paper is conveyed downwardly to meet the form as it passes under the cylinder so as to print thereon. In moving from the position shown in Fig. 16 to the position shown in Fig. 17, the roller 111 engages the projection 109 on the com 101 and carries said cam with it until the projection 108 strikes the portion 106 of the stud 10 1 and thereby starts the movement of the cam 102 in the direction of movement of the cylinder. Fig. 17 shows the projection 108 in the act of engaging the portion 106 so as to start the movement of said cam 102. Fig. 18 shows the roller lll'having moved the cams 101 and 102 until the portion 105 of the stud 104: has engaged the lug 107 and the cam has been stopped, due to the abutment of the projection 108 with the portion 106 of the stud 104.

The cylinder 6 1 continues to move in the direction of the arrow from the position shown in Fig. 18, and this continued movement causes the roller to ride upwardly on the projection 109 and thereby rock the shaft94l and raise the gripping fingers so as to free the paper 88. A continued movement of the cylinder from the position shown in Fig. 19 will cause the roller 111 to ride over the top of the projection 109 of the cam 101 and at the same time the gripping fingers will be descending so as to permit the released paper to be projected a tangent above the level of the ends of the gripping fingers, as clearly shown in Fig. 20. During this latter action the printing of the paper will have been completed. As the cylinder continues its rotation in the direction of the arrow, as shown in Fig. 19, the roller 111 will ride down on the projection 109 and the spring 98 will operate to push the cam 101 out of the path of the roller 111, and the cams 101 and 102 will freely turn on the shaft 103, due to having been released by the roller 111. This action will permit the grippers to be moved into engagement with the cylinder and a continued rotation of the cylinder will deliver the freed portion of the paper between upper and lower conveying rollers 113 and 11 1. After the paper has been delivered to the rollers 113 and 11 1, the cylinder moves in an opposite direction until the roller 111 engages the projection 109 on the cam 101 and thereby moves the cams in said latter direction until the portion 105 of the stud 101 again strikes the lug 107 as shown in 23 and a continued movement of said cylinder in the latter mentioned direction will cause the roller 111 to ride up on the projection 109, as shown in Fig. 2 1 and after it has passed over said projection 109 it will again ride up on the surface 112 of the cam 102, or in other words, into the position shown in Fig. 15, ready to again repeat the operation.

The rollers 113 and 111 are respectively secured to shafts 115 and 116, and the shafts are rotatably mounted in the top frame 63. Two other shafts 117 and 118 are also rotatably mounted in the top frame 63 and have rollers 119 and 120 respectively secured thereon. The shaft 118 has a pul ley 121 secured thereon, said pulley being operatively connected by a belt 122 with a pulley 123 on a shaft 124, said shaft having a gear wheel 125 which is in mesh with the gear wheel 39. The shaft 117 has a gear wheel 126 thereon which meshes with a. gear wheel 127 on the shaft 118. In similar man nor, the shaft 115 has a gear wheel 128 which meshes with the gear wheel 129 on the shaft 116. The shafts 118 and 116 have other gear wheels 130 and 131 respectively secured thereto, said gear wheels 130 and 131 meshing with an intermediate gear wheel 132.

Geared as above described, it will be noted that all of the rollers 113 and 11 1, 119 and 120 will be driven positively by a gear connection so that it is impossible for these gears to slip relatively to each other during the operation of the press.

afterward by tighter the screws 135, the rollers will be positioned so as to grip the printed sheets between them, when they are delivered from the cylinder, and convey the sheets so that they will fall upon a platfoini 136. The shafts 115 and 11? are made of comparatively small diameter so that when the upper rolls 11 3 and 11-1- are pressed (ifownwardl the shafts 115 and 117 will be slightly *ent or in other words, placed under tension so that the sheets of paper passing between the rolls will be firmly g *ed and since all of the rolls 113 and 11 1, 119 and 120 are positively driven by a connection the sheets *ill be conveyed without slippage between the rollers and will be ejected from between the rolls 119 and 1:20 in substantially a horizontal plane and will fall by gavity upon said platform 136, as above described. The platform 136 can be of any oftl'ie usual constructions including the adjustable boards 1-37 and an end board 138 so that a box will be formed for receiving the printed sheets and the sheets will be piled one upon. the other.

In certain of the printing presses made prior to my invention and of the general type above described, the oscillatory cylinder carried gripping fingers, but the opera-- tion was such that the gripping fingers engaged the edge of the paper and pushed the paper for a certain distance prior to clamping the paper upon the cylinder and t erivard, when the cylinder reversed, carried the paper to the printing-form. The objectionable feature of this latter mentioned type of gripping means was that the sheets often were pushed beyond their proper 3: sition in view of the striking action of the gripping fingers, and this action resulted in improper registration and was panic larly noticeable when the press was a for mnl tiple impression work, such for or; ample as multiple color work.

One of the most important and valuable features of my present invention is that the gripping fingers, due to the operation of the elements above described, grip the paper after the cylinder has started in its rotation in the direction to convey the paper to the printing form and in view of the fact that the gripping fingers are carried by the cylinder, the gripping action takes place in the direction of movement of said cylinder, By having the gripping fingers operate in my improved machine as above described there is no possible chance for the sheet to become out of proper alinement for the reason that the gripping lingers move into clamping action with the paper after the cylinder has started its rotation and the alining plate moves away from the paper to permit the grippers to freely convey the paper around the cylinder. Any suitable means may be employed for holding the paper to the cylinder, such for example as the roller 139 which is adjustably secured within the slot 1&0 of a lever 150, said lever being mounted on a bar 151 and the roller 139 is designed to move under tension against the paper while on the cylin der. A guard is positioned adjacent the outer surface of the cylinder 6 and thus serves to retain the paper in its proper po sition when being printed by the form 56 as the latter passes thereunder.

By having the conveyor rolls all positively driven by the gear connection as above described, the printed sheets will be ejected with such speed that the sheets will not have chance to flex or bend before they have been entirely freed by the conveyor rolls so that it is practically. impossible with the arrangement shown and described for the printed sheet to slide over the surface of the sheet which has been previously printed. This constitutes an important feature of my machine, since it reduces to a minimum inferior work which has previously been caused by the sliding of one sheet over another during the stacking or piling of the sheets upon a platform or other support.

While I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it will be understood, that the various parts of my invention may be changed without departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction set forth, but consider that I am at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly come Within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a printing press a platen roller journaled to rotate upon a fixed axis, means to rotate the roller alternately in opposite directions, an abutment fixed adjacent the axis of rotation, a cam plate mounted to move freely upon the journal and provided with means for engaging the abutment, a rock shaft journaled adjacent the periphery of the platen roller, grippers carried by the rock shaft, and an arm rigidly carried by the rock shaft adapted to make variable engagement with the cam plate.

2. In a printing press a platen roller journaled to rotate upon a fixed axis, means to rotate the roller alternately in opposite di rections, an abutment fixed adjacent the axis of rotation, acam plate mounted torotate freely upon the journal and provided with spaced ears, a moving abutment adapted to at times engage the fixed abutment from opposite sides and positioned in the path of movement of the spaced ears, a rock shaft journaled adjacent the periphery of the platen roller, grippers carried by the rock shaft adapted to co-act with the roller, an arm carried by the rock shaft, and means carried by the arm engaging the periphery of the cam plate.

3. In a printing press a platen roller journaled to rotate upon a fixed axis, means to rotate the platen roller alternately in opposite directions, an arcuate cam plate mounted to move freely upon the journal and provided with spaced ears, an abutment fixed adjacent the journal, an abutment movable about the journal and adapted to contact with the fixed abutment upon opposite sides and disposed between the ears of the cam plate, a rock shaft journaled adjacent the periphery of the platen roller, grippers carried by the rock shaft adapted to co-act with the platen roller, an arm carried by the rock shaft, and means carried by the arm for movable engagement with the arcuate surface of the cam plate.

4:. In a printing press a platen roller journaled to rotate upon a fixed axis, a means to rotate the roller alternately in opposite directions, an arcuate cam plate mounted to move freely upon the journal and Provided with ears spaced along the arcuate periphery, an abutment fixed adjacent the journal, a second cam plate mounted to rotate freely upon the journal in juxtaposition to the first mentioned cam plate positioned to engage the fixed abutment upon opposite sides when rotated through the major arc of a circle and positioned between the ears of the first mentioned cam plate, a rock shaft journaled adjacent the periphery of the platen roller, grippers carried by the rock shaft adapted to co-act with the )laten roller, a crank arm carried by the rock shaft, and a cam roller journaled upon the crank arm positioned to ride upon the periphery of the arcuate cam and the ears.

5. In a printing press a platen roller journaled to rotate upon a fixed axis, means to rotate the roller alternately in opposite directions, an 'arcuate cam plate mounted to rotate freely upon the axis and provided with ears spaced along the arcuate periphery, a second cam plate provided with an abutment interposed between the ears of the first mentioned cam plate, an abutment fixed adjacent the journal and in the path of movement of the abutment carried by the second mentionedcam plate, a rock shaft journaled adjacent the periphery of the platen roller, grippers carried by the rock shaft adapted to co-act with the platen roller, a crank arm carried by the rock shaft, and a cam roller carried by the crank arm proportioned to ride upon the surfaces of both cam plates.

6. In a printing press a platen roller ournaled to rotate, a gripper shaft mounted to rock upon the platen roller, a crank arm carried by the gripper shaft, an arcuate cam plate mounted to rotate freely upon the ournal, an elongated cam plate mounted adja cent the arcuate plate and to rotate freely upon the journal, means carried by one of said plates limiting its rotary movement, means carried by the other of said plates limiting its rotary movement relative to the rotary movement of the first mentioned plate, and a cam roller carried by the crank arm proportioned to engage the peripheries of the cam plates.

7. In a printing press a platen roller journaled to rotate, a gripper shaft mounted to rock upon the platen roller, a crank arm secured to the end of the gripper shaft, an arcuate cam plate carried upon the journal without the end of the platen roller, an elongated cam plate carried upon the journal adjacent the arcuate cam plate, an abutment fixed adjacent the journal, means carried by one of said cam plates for engaging the fixed abutment upon opposite sides and limiting its rotation, means carried' by the other cam plate engaging with the first mentioned cam plate and limiting its motion thereby, and a cam roller carried by the crank arm positioned to engage the adjacent peripheries of the cam plates. I

8. A printing press of the character described including a printing-form; a cylinder; a rock shaft movable in conjunction with said cylinder; gripping fingers secured to said rock shaft; an arm on said rock shaft; a roller on said arm; a stationary lug; two freely rotatable cams capable of being engaged by said roller, one of said cams having a stud thereon, said stud having portions projecting from opposite faces thereof, one portion of said stud being adapted to engage said lug, the other of said cams having projections spaced apart and between which the other portion of said stud projects, said roller being adapted to initially engage on the high portion of said first cam and to hold said first mentioned portion of the stud against said lug, whereby the gripping fingers are held open; means for moving said gripping fingers into clamping engagement with said cylinder; and means for turning said cylinder to cause said roller to ride down from the high portion of said cam to permit said means to move the gripping fingers into clamping position and to cause said roller to engage one of the projections on said second cam and thereby cause the rotation of said second cam and to cause said second cam to engage the other portion of said stud so as to rotate said first cam until said first portion of the stud engages the opposite side of said lug, said roller then being operative to ride up on said first projection of the second mentioned cain by Which action the gripping fingers are opened; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thls speelfication in the presence of 10 two subscribing Witnesses.

CHARLES W. SMITH.

Witnesses 2 ANNA REN 'roN, EVELYN CROMPTON. 

